He's so fundamentally sound. He's raw, but fundamentally raw. Keeps the ball high, great basketball IQ, can read the defense well, takes it strong, sees the floor nicely in the post. He has good overall skill that will translate into some good NBA success.

This summer, Casey wants Colangelo to add physical, aggressive, defence-minded guys and veteran leadership to complement his skilled players. One of those pieces is already in place. Jonas Valanciunas, the fifth overall pick in the 2011 draft, has been stowed away in his native Lithuania. Optimistic Raptors fans picture him like Ivan Drago, strapped into all sorts of wires and beeping machines while uttering phrases like "I will crush him" and "If he dies, he dies." Which might not be too far off.

At just 19, the six-foot-11 centre has decimated competition overseas, helping the Lithuanian national team to three international gold medals in three different age groups in the past four years. He was named MVP each time, which helps explain why earlier this year Colangelo's peers collectively voted Valanciunas the best player outside the NBA. More importantly, he's the type of player Casey craves. "His game is playing aggressively under the basket: running the floor, setting picks, blocking shots," explains Maurizio Gherardini, the Raptors' vice-president of international scouting. "He fits perfectly with the principles Casey is trying to instill." And, by total coincidence, Valanciunas's coach this past season in Lithuania, Aleksandar Džikic, was an assistant under Casey in Minnesota a few years back during Casey's first stint as a head man, and teaches the same defensive principles. "There will always be a transition [coming from Europe]," says Gherardini, "but there are a lot of factors in making that transition as smooth as possible."

lol

The kudos keep pouring in for Raptors’ 2011 draft pick Jonas Valanciunas. The Lietuvos Rytas standout was recently named the winner of the Eurocup Rising Star award. And that’s exciting, until you realize that the last three winners of the Eurocup Rising Star award were Donatas Motiejunas, Víctor Claver and Milan Macvan. Exactly.

L. Rytas moves to LKL semi finals?

I think the quarterfinals was with Siauliai was a 2 game series based on point spread. Using Google Translate, this is what I get from L. Rytas homepage:

Vilnius Lithuania morning went to the Lithuanian Basketball League (BBL) Finals. Alexander Džikičiaus students supported by their own supporters won 82:67 Siauliai and won the semifinal series. The first match was lost from Vilnius 9-point margin - 74:65.

Haha JV probably doesn't know how much of a hype-machine he is... just look at ourselves, when was the last time we actually gave a shit about some guy in the Euroleague playing against teams we didn't even know existed on the planet. I love it!
There's a lot of excitement and optimism abound for next season. Can't wait for him to get here, hopefully he translates well to the NBA.